The Ghost of Iwatobi High
by INSANITY - BRILLIANCE
Summary: "Akamatsu, Sadako is the ghost of Iwatobi High School. She haunts classroom 2-C and if you look into her eyes for more than three seconds you'll be cursed with misfortune…" I wasn't sure how that rumor got started, but I'm just a normal girl. And my name isn't Sadako –it's Sawako. (Constructive Criticism encouraged. Written in first person.)
1. Water Spirit

**Summary: "** Akamatsu, Sadako is the ghost of Iwatobi High School. She haunts classroom 2-C and if you look into her eyes for more than three seconds you'll be cursed with misfortune…" I wasn't sure how that rumor got started, but I'm just a normal girl. And my name isn't Sadako –it's Sawako.

 **The Ghost of Iwatobi High  
Chapter 1  
"Water Spirit"**

* * *

Four girls walked down one of the many corridors of Iwatobi High School on their way to class. It was the first week of a new school year, so this group of first-years was still adjusting to high school life and the ways of Iwatobi. They were in the middle of a very heated discussion.

"The Ghost of Itwatobi High? What's that?" One girl asked, the question carrying down the hall to my ears. I didn't know her personally, so her name was a mystery to me. But she was cute, at least that's the word I thought best described her, with a petite and slender frame and her hair, dyed a pale blonde, and layered into a chin length bob.

Her friend, a tall broad-shouldered girl with long brown hair, replied. "It's a legend here on campus. Akamatsu, Sadako is the ghost of Iwatobi High School. She haunts the classroom of 2-C and it's said that if you look into her eyes for more than three seconds, you'll be cursed with misfortune…"

"Yeah, I heard some stories about it," a third girl with short black hair and red glasses added. "It was during the entrance ceremony last year that a student from class 3-A saw her and he immediately had to be hospitalized."

The blonde looked horrified as she looked between her two friends. " _Kowai._ That's so scary!"

"–And there's been a dozen or so reported sightings since!" The second girl said excitedly. "You know Yuki-chan, well, she saw the ghost on the way to the cafeteria and came down with a cold three days later. They say she's the spirit of a girl from class 2-C that hung herself twenty years ago and now is stuck wandering the halls; forced to live out her school days over and over again. How cool is that?"

"No way that can be real," The last girl, a burnet with a ponytail, interrupted. "If it were, we'd be hearing these stories for more than just a year. And I'm pretty sure that Akamatsu, Sadako is just a second-year in class C. I saw her name on the class lists when they were first up. If she were a ghost, then why would the teachers put her name on the list?" She asked.

I agreed whole heartedly with the last girl. Nothing about that ghost story made any lick of sense. And I should know, considering that I am Akamatsu, Sadako. Well, actually my name isn't Sadako; it's Sawako. There was a misprint during my first-year and the name just sort of stuck before it could be corrected. I wasn't sure how the whole ghost rumor got started. But if I had to take a guess, it probably started on the first day of my first year with that misprinted name.

From that day on, I was labeled the ghost girl – _Sadako –_ the girl from the _Ring_ trilogy. That thought made me sigh. I used to love those books, but I haven't been able to enjoy them since I got stuck with that nickname. The four girls continued to discuss the possibility of the school being haunted, totally unaware of my presence. One of them, the burnet with the ponytail, started fiddling with her bag and in process dropping her red mechanical pencil on the floor. It rolled a couple of times toward my feet and I stopped walking to retrieve it.

"Umm… excuse me," I said my voice wavering as I called out to the girl. The girls stopped and turned to look at me. I tried to shape my face into what I felt was a friendly expression and held out the pencil, "I think you dropped this."

Apparently, my expression wasn't as friendly as I thought it was because no sooner were those words out of my mouth and the girls in question were hightailing it away from me. The owner of the pencil calling out over her shoulder, " _Sumimasen!_ You can keep it!" Then all four of them disappeared down the hall, leaving me to stand there like an idiot watching them go.

Well, that just happened. Again.

I looked down at the pencil in my hand. "But I guess, I got a free pencil now." So there's a bright side.

…

For some reason, people are always afraid of me. I don't want them to be. I just want to make one friend at this school. Nevertheless, I'm in my second year and so far the only person I can get to talk to me for more than three seconds is my homeroom teacher; Amakata, Miho. So I need to start being realistic. Me finding a friend was impossible.

It didn't matter how much I tried to be friendly or tried to talk to the other students, not if they kept running away before I could get a word in edgewise. So I just decided that I was going to focus on my studies and not worry about a social life. It was easier that way too; way less drama. And to be honest, I didn't mind the solitude. As long as I had a decent book and my MP3 player, I was good.

Since the weather was warming up, I decided to take my _bento_ outside to eat. I really like early spring in Japan. The _sakura_ trees were so pretty to look at and the campus had a group of them planted near the in-ground swimming pool. They provided the perfect amount of sun and shade and it was the place that I liked most to each my lunch. Today I also decided to work on my Geometry homework while I ate, figuring that multitasking would save me some time when I got home.

I worked through the problems carefully. Using my graphing calculator to double-check each problem before I proceeded to the next. And it was no time at all before I had finished the first page and had to move on to the back. I popped open my binder and slipped the sheet out so I could flip it over to write on the back.

Suddenly, the gentle breeze that I had been enjoying picked up and blew the paper out of my hand along with several pages of my Geometry notes. I quickly tried to reach from them, though I wasn't fast enough, and the wind carried these pages high up into the air, over the tall chain-link fence, dropping them limply into the pool. "Oh, no!" I wailed quickly closing up my binder and _bento_ box and quickly sprinting around the fence to the gate that led inside.

I stopped by the pools edge, looking on in despair at my ruined homework and math notes floating on the surface of the water. Turning around to search for something to fish them out, I spotted a pool skimmer propped up by the fence and quickly snatched it. If I moved fast enough I might be able to salvage them before they sink to the bottom.

I skimmed as out as many pages as I could and laid them out to dry on the cement. I was in the process of reaching for the last page when I lost my footing and fell, head first, into the water. My first thought was how cold the water was. There was a reason why the swim club wasn't currently using the pool. My second thought was _'Crap I forgot to hold my breath!'_ and was by far the loudest.

Luckily, I was in the shallow end of the pool and was immediately able to stand up; coughing all the while. My uniform was soaked, my long black hair covering my face, and the sheet of paper sitting atop my head. I was still holding onto the pool skimmer, so I guess that's something. But sometime between me falling into pool and me popping back out, a group of people had arrived at the scene to see me in this incredibly embarrassing situation.

The Iwatobi swim club had become something of a hot topic since it was established last year. Being such a new club, no one had expected the members to make it as far as regionals. Their unusual member recruiting tactics –anything from manga-style flyers, to Iwatobi mascot keychains, and the latest stunt at the entrance ceremony where each of the members displayed their charm-points –had become somewhat of a running joke. What I found surprising, though, was that no one had joined since they'd gone to regionals. I thought for sure that someone would've, but so far nothing.

I peered up at them through the wet strands of my hair. Four boys and one girl stared back with equal looks of confusion and downright terror. Did I really look all that scary? It was something that I'd been wondering for a while.

"It's a _kappa_!" One of them exclaimed taking a step back and pointing at me. "A _kappa's_ in the pool."

Kappa? That's a new one. Still, not sure if it's a step up or down from ghost, however. I pushed my hair out of my eyes, which only seemed to make matters worse.

"What are you saying, Makoto-sempai?" Asked one of the other boys nervously. "That's not a _kappa_. Water spirits don't wear school uniforms…" He didn't look like he believed what he was saying as he trailed off and looked at me. I stared back unsure of what to do. "–at least I don't think they do."

My eyes flickered over to Makoto-sempai, a tall boy with sandy brown hair and bright green eyes, and opened my mouth to speak. "Umm… I'm not a – Achoo! – _kappa,_ " I said around a sneeze.

That seemed to break them out of their trance. I guess, the sneeze humanized me or something because the girl stepped forward and offered me her hand. "Here, you should get out of there before you catch a cold," she grabbed my hand and helped me out of the water.

…

As it turned out, the swim club wasn't so bad. Not that I was expecting them to be or anything like that. But I didn't think they would go out of their way to get me a change of clothes –supplied by Matsuoka, Kou "–Kou! Not Gou," she had said –and help me try to salvage my homework with hanging the pages up to dry and turning on a portable fan. Kou's gym clothes were several sizes too big on me, and I had to roll up the pants a couple times so they'd fit. I wasn't tall or even average height like she was. I was short 152 centimeters; meaning that everyone else towered over me.

And this was especially true with the swim club's president, Tachibana, Makoto, who's height of about 183 centimeters made me look like a small child. Despite his height, the older boy was hardly imposing as he looked down at me. I could tell that he was more of a gentle-giant type; what with his soft green eyes and a smile that radiated friendliness.

"So your math homework fell into the pool and you fell in trying to retrieve it?" He summarized after I explained how I ended up in the pool.

"Yes. I'm kind of a klutz," I admitted embarrassed. "Sorry if I startled you."

Makoto shook his head, "No. I should be apologizing for thinking you were some kind of water demon. That was rude of me."

He was so nice. I don't think I'd ever have someone apologizing for assuming things and I honestly didn't expect them too. I knew that, at least on some level, that I bared a striking resemblance to the ghost, Sadako. My short stature made me look at lot younger than I was and combined with my long straight black hair and pale skin; it was no wonder people avoided me. "It's alright," I said.

"Wait! I know who you are," one of the other boys blurted out. "You're the ghost, right? _Akamatsu, Sadako –_ we're both in the same class." He did look familiar. There weren't many blonds in my class. But I wasn't good at remembering names.

Makoto froze and turned toward the other boy. "Ghost?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It's this story that started last year at the entrance ceremony. Apparently, Okimoto Tadashi had to go to the hospital because he got a concussion. When he got back he claimed he was attacked by a ghost. After that, stories started become more frequent and now it's practically an urban legend!"

"–It's a misunderstanding!" I blurted out, not liking where this conversation was headed, "I didn't attack anyone. I was only trying to ask him for directions. But I guess I startled him when he saw me and he slipped on the floor, that had been mopped, knocking himself out cold. I'm not a ghost nor can I see them or talk to them or anything like that."

It was the first time I was ever able to clear up that misunderstanding. No one had ever stayed this long for me to correct them and I was grateful that I finally got the opportunity. Everyone was quite for a few seconds, then the air shifted and whatever tension arose evaporated instantly when Makoto started to laugh.

"I'm sorry, Akamatsu-san," he chuckled. "It's just that story – _pft…_ how can such reputation be derived from that?" His eye sparked with mirth, while he looked down on me.

Meanwhile the blond boy pouted. "Aww…really? I was hoping the school was hunted, but I guess it's just a normal high school."

He looked so disappointed. I couldn't deny that going to a hunted high school would be kind of fun; if you were into that sort of thing. Then to find out it wasn't being similar to finding out that Santa Clause was just your fat uncle Charlie wearing a beard. "Sorry," I said.

"That's not something you need to apologize for," said another boy, with blue hair and glasses. He looked familiar too and I thought his name was Ryu-something-or-other.

"Hey, Sadako-chan!" The blond called out causing my eyes to flicker over to him. "Are you in any clubs?"

"No, I'm not," I replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Then would you like to join the swim club?" He asked. "If you join, you'll get this Iwatobi mascot keychain!" He held up a wooden keychain that looked like a baby chicken crossed with a penguin and talons like an eagle. The tiny figurine was painted a bright yellow with a tiny blue speedo. It was cute, in an offbeat sort of way.

"Nagisa-chan! No one wants that thing," Kou yelled.

The blond, Nagisa, turned waving the keychain around in her face. "Why not? It's cute! And Haru-chan spent a lot of time making these. The least we can do is give them out."

From the corner of the room, the boy that had been strangely quite throughout this whole incident finally spoke up. His deep blue eyes sparked resolutely as he looked over to Nagisa. "I told you not to call me _Haru_ - _chan,"_ he said.

I didn't know what to say to anything going on in front of me. How did my day turn out like this? I just wanted to do my homework during lunch. It wasn't that I was opposed to joining the swim club or anything like that. I could swim just a well as the next person, however I didn't know the first thing about competitive swimming. Also I wasn't very athletic as most of my time was spent hold up in my room reading, playing video games, or sketching on my drawing tablet. But these people were the first friendly faces I had met since I'd moved to Japan a year ago. It'd be pretty stupid for me to throw away this opportunity to make friends.

"I-I'll do it. I'll join," I said nervously twisting my hands in my lap.

"Really? You will?" Makoto looked at me in disbelief. I guess, they really didn't get many people interested in the club.

"Yes." Then releasing an uneasy breath of air, I continued, "Although I'm not athletic and I don't know anything about competitive swimming."

Haru fixed me with a level stare. "But can you swim?"

I nodded.

"Then that all you need to know!" Nagisa responded loudly, "We can teach you the rest." He walked over to me and placed the Iwatobi keychain in my hand. "As promised, one mini Iwatobi-chan for you," he winked. The little bird stared up at me from my hands and for a second I thought it was almost smiling. So now I've joined the swimming club and something told me that my life was about to get a lot more exciting; but I couldn't find it in myself to care. And I didn't even look up when Kou yelled.

"No one wants that stupid keychain!"

I did though. I wanted it.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Thank you for reading this first chapter. I got this idea in my head because I was watching Free! and Kimi ni Todoke at the same time. And I thought to myself what if someone like Kuronuma Sawako was in Free! and one thing lead to another and this story idea was born. In a way it's kind of a crossover as my Sawako is based off of that character, although their not exactly alike.

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this. I'm thinking about making it a possible Rin/OC story, but it could also turn into a Makoto/OC or a Nagisa/OC too. Until I decide what pairing I want to do, I'm just not going to put pairings. Nonetheless, I am open to suggestions so if you guys want a particular pairing you can put it in the reviews.

Please leave any thoughts, comment, or critiques in the reviews. Constructive criticism is always encouraged and sought after by me.


	2. Classmates

**The Ghost of Iwatobi High  
Chapter 2  
** ** _"Classmates"_**

* * *

"Sawako, are you all packed?" My mother's voice carried over from our medium sized kitchen as I came down the stairs. In my hands I held my two carry-on bags, one a small suitcase and the other a new duffle that I had got specifically for this trip. Setting the bags down by the front door, I looked around my childhood home knowing that I probably wouldn't be seeing it again for at least a year. I was a bit sad thinking about it.

This had been my home for as long as I could remember. Each room was filled with memories; from the door way where mom marked my height as I grew to the tropical aquarium where my clownfish, Tolkien, swam that I had gotten for my twelfth birthday. Our white Persian cat, Fatty, lounged idly on the tile floor by the stairs, sunbathing, and I leaned down to run my fingers over her soft fur.

"Morning, Fatty," I said scratching her behind the ears. She purred softly and leaned against my touch, stretching her body out and rolling on her back for a belly rub. "You're such a weird cat," I said patting her soft belly twice before standing up.

"Sawako." My mother called again.

My attention snapped to the kitchen doorway where my mother stood. Watabe Ume, or Ume Fairchild as she was now known, bared little to no resemblance to me. Growing up, I was told that I looked just like my dad which was true; I had his short stature, dark hair and eyes and both our faces seemed to be permanently frozen in what many would call a death glare. My mother, contrariwise, was tall –much taller than was normal for people from Japan – at 5'7 ft she really stood out in a crowd, she had light brown hair that was cut into a short pixie, and her eyes were a golden honey color. About the only thing we hand in common was our complete lack of figure.

"You're a bit distracted today," she observed smiling.

"Yeah," I nodded absently looking around the room.

Mom's smile dropped slightly as I did this, then as quickly as I looked back she was smiling again. She probably hoped I didn't see that. "Well, breakfast is ready so come eat." She said and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Following after her, I was immediately struck with the thought that this would be the last time we would have breakfast together. At least until December rolled around; which was nine months away and seemed like a lifetime. So much could happen in nine months. I sat myself down at the table and stared at the copious amount of food that sat there. From the looks of things, she had been cooking from early this morning because there was no way she would've been able to make that big of a fruit salad and fry that many eggs unless she had. "Mom," I sputtered, "you didn't have to make so much food. I would've been fine with poptarts."

At my words, she spun around wielding a metal spatula and a plate of unidentifiable breakfast food. "You're not going to eat poptarts on the day you're taking off to Japan," she said. "You need something more substantial and those things are only filled with sugar. I won't allow it!" Her eyes were firm and I knew there was no arguing with her.

"Yes, ma'am." I replied breaking eye contact and letting my hair fall forward.

"Aww—geez," she sighed as she turned off the skillet, setting the plate down on the table, then taking a seat next to me, "what's with this ma'am business? It makes me feel old. A thirty-two-year-old woman should not be called ma'am by her own daughter. I mean I was about your age when I had you…"

"–Sorry." I said, knowing how much my mother hated to be called ma'am.

There was a beat of silence, then as if a switch had been flipped, mom broke out into a fit of giggles. "I'm only teasing you, _Zashiki Warashi_. I'm a mom I get to do that," she smiled and pushed the plate of eggs towards me. I had to smile too at the familiar pet name.

 _Zashiki Warashi_ , or guestroom child, was something my mother had called me since I was very small. As I understood it, in Japan _zashiki warashi_ were little ghouls that inhabited homes and brought good luck; taking the shape of a small child with bobbed hair and a red face. Up until I was about eight or so, I had always worn my hair in a bob and I guess I reminded mom of them. Not that I minded because she'd always said that I was her good luck charm.

"Come on, eat," Mom urged already putting food on my plate without asking. She set about sliding about three fried eggs on my plate, then scooping out a generous amount of fruit salad, then picked up the plate of food she had been carrying before. I couldn't tell what it was, but it looked like long rolls of bacon that seemed to be stuffed with something. "And look at these!" she excitedly started placing the things in front of me, "I came up with these this morning! I call them oinkers!"

"Oinkers?" I wondered picking one up and examining it.

Mom seemed proud of herself as she nodded. "Yep. It's like pigs in a blanket only better! I took a sausage, wrapped it in a pancake and tied it together with bacon. And then you dunk them in maple syrup," she explained. "It's the ultimate breakfast food!"

Her face was stretched into a Cheshire cat like grin that frankly made her look both ridiculous and little scary. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or say something about it. Although, I ended up not doing either of them when I looked at my plate and realized that my mom had precariously stacked about ten oinkers on it prior to adding one more spoonful of fruit salad to the heap. This resulting in a huge pile of food no one, much less me, could possibly eat in one sitting; not unless I was someone like Dwayne – _The Rock_ –Johnson. "Mom!" I yelled exasperated, "I couldn't possibly eat this much food."

She didn't say anything at first. But then I heard a telltale sniffle coming from her side of the table. My head snapped up to see my mother –still in the process of scooping out yet another helping of fruit salad –staring back at me with tears in her eyes. "I know. But please –please just let me have this, Sawako. Just for today," she whimpered. It wasn't uncommon for my mother to shed a few tears –it was tactic she used a lot to get her own way –however, I knew this was different because it was today of all days and she'd never try to hold back her tears unless she was genuinely upset.

And me being me, couldn't stand to see her cry without breaking out into tears myself. "We agreed," I said dapping at my eyes, "no tears."

"I – _sniff –_ can't help it. My baby's leaving me…"

"Mom, I'll – _hiccup –_ be b-back in n-nine m-m-months," I replied. By now neither of us were able to hold back the waterfall of tears we'd stored up; the dams breaking and the emotions we'd been holding back coming to the surface.

"W-who am I-I g-gonna m-mock t-t-the Kardashians w-with?" Mom sobbed clutching me to her.

I was past the point of comprehensible speech; we both were. So when I spoke, I meant to say something along the lines of, "There's always Laurel next door." Laurel being the daughter of our neighbors Mr. and Mrs. McKinley, only a couple years older than I was, and was the only person I'd really consider a friend. What came out of my mouth, however, was slurred beyond belief making me sound like Jabba the Hut. "Theeee—whaaaa—baaa—Laurel!"

Meanwhile, this was the time my step-father George chose to make an appearance. "Okay so I've put all the bags in the car…" He stopped and took one look at my mom and I clutching each other in a death grip, while we both wailed at the top of our lungs. I imagined we looked like a couple of toddlers throwing a tantrum. Then pushing up his horn-rimmed glasses and sheepishly brushing his blonde hair from his forehead, he asked. "What's going on here?"

Mom lifted her from my shoulder and managed to get out four words. "Sawako. Leaving. Japan. Today."

That only made George more confused. And I could practically see his thoughts as he looked off to the side. _'Women. There's no understanding them.'_

…

Homesickness was something I had become accustomed to. Japan, as much as I liked the country, wasn't home. And on more than one occasion, I found myself missing the crystal blue waters, tropical reefs, and white sandy beaches of Hawaii. But more than anything what I really missed was my mother and George.

Of course, I talked to them occasionally on the phone or skype and exchanged constant emails with my mom. So in reality I talked to them almost every day, still it wasn't the same. Being an entire ocean apart was hard. I couldn't listen to George go on and on about migratory patterns of birds. I couldn't go surfing with Laurel. (Despite the fact, that I wasn't any good at it and I ending up wiping out more times than actually standing on the board.) Nor could I eat any more of my mother's bizarre culinary creations.

It's funny how being away made me miss things like that.

I watched the scenery blur past the window and stifled a yawn. I had overslept again. I didn't mean to, truly I didn't. But at some point last night I got too absorbed into my drawing and ended up passing out at my computer desk. Fortunately for me, my dad was home this morning and wound up waking me up at _07:15_ ; which left me with just enough time that I could still catch the train as long as I rushed through my morning. So it went without saying that my appearance was disheveled as I tried not to fall asleep on the stranger standing next to me.

That's another thing… what was with public transportation being so crowded? I've lived in Japan for a year, so I should've been used to it by now. But every time I board one of the many trains I find myself overwhelmed by just how crowded the country actually is. (Or maybe it seems that way because I grew up on a little island where there wasn't that many people.) In the city, like Tokyo for example, a hundred people are packed into a space that really only meant to hold about fifty. Iwatobi, being a rural fishing town, isn't much better; packing about sixty-five people in each car during rush hour.

As a result, my face was pretty much smashed into the window. _'I really hope they clean these…'_

" _–dako-chan!_ Sadako-chan!"

That voice…I recognized it. My head turned and I immediately picked out a familiar blond in the crowd of people. It was my classmate Na…umm wait. _What was it again?_ _Na…na…na –Batman! Dang it!_ I can't remember his name.

This is bad. This is really, really, bad. Maybe I can pretend I didn't see him, except he's coming over here and that other guy is with him –the one with the blue hair and red glasses –and I don't know his name either. I was about near panicking at this point, looking for some way to avoid my impending embarrassment. Because I would be embarrassed not remembering their names when they so obviously remembered mine, or what they thought was my name. But this train was too crowded and I was stuck, literally cornered by the doors, with no way to weasel my way through the mass of bodies surrounding me and I had no idea how what's-his-face was doing it.

 _Abort. Abort. Abor– "Ohayou_ Sadako-chan," the blond chirped stopping in front of me. His magenta eyes flickered briefly in the sunlight, instantly reminding me of the pink hibiscus flowers that grew by my childhood home. _'Pretty.'_

" _O-Ohayou,"_ I replied unconsciously fidgeting my hands. I couldn't get away with calling them dude, could I? Probably not. "Umm… I'm sorry. But I'm not so good at remembering names."

The blue-haired boy adjusted his glasses, similarly to how George did when he was nervous. "Ryugazaki Rei, second-year. We're in the same class, I sit directly behind you," he said.

Ah, that's embarrassing. I couldn't even remember the name of the person sitting behind me. "S-so sorry, Ryugazaki-kun. I'll be sure to remember now," I blushed leaning forward slightly so my hair would shield my face.

"It's alright. We haven't really spoken to each other before now," he responded scratching the back of his neck, awkwardly. He's really nice too.

"And I'm Hazuki Nagisa! But you can call me Nagisa, if you like." The blond interjected, enthusiastically. "I sit behind Rei-chan, so don't feel bad if you didn't notice."

They're both nice. "Okay. _Arigatou,_ Nagisa-kun," I said his first name like he requested and instantly his face lit up. It was really something how he was able to smile a 100-watt smile like that. It was almost blinding. ' _I see stars…_ '

"I didn't know you took this train," Nagisa began conversationally.

"I don't usually. But I kind of overslept this morning and missed my usual 07:15 train," I told him.

"Ah, I see. So you get to school really early," he nodded, "Now that I think about, you are always the first one in homeroom. Why is that?"

There were several answers to his question. The first being that the 07:15 train was typically less crowded than the 07:45 train. Second, I liked to take my time in the morning before classes and draw in my sketch book. But overall, the earlier train was just easier for me because I was able to have time to fully wake up before class. "I like to get to school earlier because it's peaceful," I explained, "In the morning, there aren't many people so it's quite."

"And you like quite?"

I nodded. "I've never minded it."

"So what do you do?" He wondered.

"Sometimes I read in the library, though mostly I draw."

That quipped his interest. "Really? What do you draw? I can't draw anything, I tried making posters for the swim club, but they didn't turn out very good," he said.

That was kind of a loaded question as I drew anything from buildings to people to plants and everything else in-between. Sometimes my drawing was more cartoonish in nature, while others were like 3-D sketches that jumped off the page. It all depended on how I was feeling at the time. "Umm…I don't really have a preference. I just draw what I see, I guess," I replied.

It was then that the loudspeaker came on announcing the next stop. Nagisa's attention shifted to the speaker mounted above my head then back to me. "Ah, this is where we get off," he remarked. "Sadako-chan, it was nice talking to you. We'll see you in class, m'kay?"

I was confused. I didn't think school was until the next stop. "But aren't you getting off a stop too early?" I wondered stepping out of the way as the doors slid open and people started to exit the train. Rygazaki had already stepped off and was standing on the platform to wait for Nagisa, who had lagged behind to talk to me.

"We are. But Rei-chan and I run the last length to school," he explained.

"Oh." My eyes darted between the two boys. "Then you should get going or you'll both be late," I said.

Nagisa nodded and stepped onto the platform. But he stopped suddenly and turned back to me as if he remembered something. "Oh, Sadako-chan! Since you've joined the swimming club, maybe you could run with us sometime," he offered.

"Maybe."

Nagisa smiled at my response and waved. "Bye-bye."

I waved back and replied with a farewell of my own. Then the doors closed again and I was once again smashed up against the windows, watching as the two boys jogged down the road toward the high school. Running with them in the morning couldn't hurt. And I wouldn't mind talking to them some more in class either. _'I just hope I don't forget their names again…'_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Thank you to those of you who have read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story so far. Honestly, I'm never quite sure how my fics will be received and I wasn't really expecting such a response so quickly.

This chapter is a little shorter than the first one. But I did try to include some of the swim club members in it. I also tried to show a little bit of Sawako's background with her mom and her step-father George. I'll go more into that later.

Please leave any feedback in the reviews or if you have questions you can put those there too. I also accept PM's too. And as always, constructive criticism is encouraged and sought after by me.


	3. New Friends

**The Ghost of Iwatobi High  
Chapter 3  
**" **New Friends"**

* * *

Because I woke up late and had to take the later train, I didn't have a whole lot of time before homeroom started. That was unfortunate. But that wasn't going to stop me from doing what I set out to do.

I hurried down the corridor to class 2-E. In my hands, I had a bag filled with Kou's freshly laundered gym clothes that I needed to return to her. It didn't feel right to keep them any longer than I have. And I was worried that if I didn't get them back to her before homeroom, then she would have nothing to wear for her gym class. The people I passed in the hall moved out of my way, avoiding my eyes as was usual. I didn't even think much about it, when they began whispering to each other as soon as I passed.

" _Did I just see the grudge run past?"_

" _You didn't look her in the eyes, right?"_

I skidded to a halt at the door; my indoor shoes sliding along the smooth floor and causing me to stumbled into the doorframe. My hand shot out to steady myself, in the process bumping my knuckles roughly against the wall. "Ow…" I winced.

Kou was easy to pick out of a crowd. Her maroon hair was so uncommon in Japan that it was similar to having a flashing, neon, arrow overhead at all times. She was standing in the middle of the classroom talking to what I assumed was her classmate or even a good friend with how close they were standing.

"K-Kou-chan," I huffed, slightly out of breath from more or less sprinting down the halls. I don't know how I'm going to run with Nagisa and Ryugazaki if I can't even run down the hall without getting winded.

Kou turned around when her name was called. Her ruby eyes lit up when they landed on me and instantly a smile stretched across her face. "Sadako-chan, _Ohayou_!" She chirped, "What are you doing here?"

I stumbled over and held the bag up in my hands. " _Ohayou…_ Umm, I wanted to return these to you. It's the clothes you lent me," I explained when she looked confused, "I washed them. So thank you for your help." My head dipped unconsciously in a bow before I handed over the bag.

"Oh, well thanks for washing them. But you don't need to be so formal, Sadako-chan. I didn't do anything that anyone else wouldn't have," she replied setting the bag on the desk. Then turning to the girl standing beside her, the same girl that she had been talking to before I interrupted. "Chigusa-chan, this is the new member I was telling you about; Akamatsu, Sadako."

Chigusa looked at me with interest, bending down so she could see my eyes. The girl was a lot taller than me, and only little bit taller than Kou. She reminded me a bit of my mother, what with the brownish-orange hair, but her eyes were a pretty aquamarine color. "So you're the ghost, huh? You don't seem very imposing," she commented, "I was expecting something… _taller."_

"Uh…yes. I'm a…" How was I supposed to respond to that?

"Not everyone can be as tall as you, Chisuga-chan," Kou quipped.

"That's true." She shrugged then stuck out her hand. "Name's Hanamura, Chisuga. But you can call me Chisuga if you like. I hang out with Gou a lot so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

I grasped her hand lightly shaking it. "Nice to meet you."

"I told you my name is Kou!" Kou started. "Gou is a guy's name. Don't call me Gou."

Chisuga raised a brow. "But your name is Gou."

"It's pronounced Kou."

"Gou."

"Kou."

"Gou."

"K…"

It looked like neither girl was going to relent anytime soon. Kou kept insisting that her name was Kou; while Chisuga kept using Gou. I wasn't a hundred percent sure, but I seemed like the taller girl was doing it on purpose just to get a rise out of her friend. However, I still needed to get to class so I didn't have time to wait around for them to finish. "–Sorry, but I need to go… homeroom is about to start," I said effectively derailing both girls.

Kou looked a bit sheepish. "Right, I got a little sidetracked." Then she was smiling again, "You'll have lunch with us later, won't you? Chisuga-chan and I eat on the roof and we'd love if you'd join us…"

"Yes, please do," Chisuga agreed.

Two invites in one day? I don't think I'd ever had that happen before. It was strange, although not unwanted. All these people that were suddenly thrust into my life, they were all so friendly. Up until now, people had more or less avoided or ignored my very presence, so what made them so different? Was it just because I joined the swim club? Or were they all what they appeared to be; friendly, good-hearted people who genuinely wanted me there? I didn't know. Still, I believed in believing the best in people, and they had done nothing as of yet to make me think my first impressions of them were wrong.

"A-ah, sure. I'd like that very much," I replied. And I did. They probably had no idea how much the simple offer of us eating together meant to me. To them it was only a gesture, a thing anyone else would do, but it made me so happy. And for the first time, I thought that joining the swim club might be the best decision I ever made.

It wasn't until l left the classroom and was walking down the hall, that I realized I was smiling. And it was immediately after that that I realized I had absolutely no idea how to get to the roof. I probably should've asked them.

* * *

Thankfully, I didn't actually have to figure out where the roof was on my own. Nagisa had offered to help me –Well, offering was a kinder way of putting it –He more or less dragged me from the classroom the second lunch rolled around. I think he had the best intentions in mind, so I wasn't as put off by it as I probably should've been. More than anything, Nagisa simply seemed to be the type of person who got so caught up in the moment that they sometimes forgot to take into account other peoples' personal boundaries. And it wasn't like I hadn't been exposed to this type of behavior before, Laurel was more or less the same way.

Contrariwise, Ryugazaki was the exact opposite. He followed behind us at a more dignified pace and called out to Nagisa, more than once, to slow down as he was practically skipping up the stairs. Of the two, he seemed to be the one who was more taciturn – ' _Is that the right word? I don't think it is' –_ serious maybe, or sensible. Yeah sensible, that's a good way to describe Ryugazaki. Levelheaded, sensible, practical –those all fit him to a T.

Nagisa wasn't sensible, but he made up for that with his energetic, bubbly, personality. Honestly, I don't think I've ever met someone so animated. Even my mom who could talk a mile-a-minute with wind gusts up to sixty-five miles-per-hour paled in comparison. "–I can't wait until it comes out in theaters. It's supposed to the slasher-film of the year…"

After he found out I shared his love for horror films, Nagisa had started telling me about this movie that was coming out this summer. It was your typical plotline, five teenagers go camping in the woods and one by one they're picked off and cut to ribbons by some monster or psycho-murder. But you wouldn't find out which was which until halfway through the movie. I had seen trailers for it more than once and the previews looked good, good enough to get me interested anyways. As far as the reviews went, I found that more often than not they oversold the movie and there had been very few times I've seen a film that did live up to the hype.

"So you're planning to see it when it comes out?" I asked, stopping on the stairs to catch my breath.

"Mmhm. Although, it's not as much fun if you go by yourself. Maybe the whole club should do it," he added thoughtfully. "We could plan it on a Sunday when there's no school. I bet Rin-chan would want to go too."

Ryugazaki quickly shot that idea down, however. "Not interested. Besides, you know I'm busy studying on Sundays and Makoto-sempai hates scary movies," he said. I didn't know about the studying, albeit the gentle-giant-swim-club-captain did seem like the type to be afraid of horror films. He did mistake me for a _Kappa_ after all.

Although, I was more curious to who this _Rin-chan_ person was? Is it a boy or a girl? As far as I knew, Kou was the only girl that really hung out with the swim club until I showed up. So did that mean Rin-chan was a guy? It was a really feminine name –then again Nagisa, Rei, and Makoto were also considered girls' names so maybe it wasn't that weird.

"But Rrrrreeee-iiii-chan," Nagisa whined drawling the other boy's name into two syllables, "it would be fun."

"Still not interested."

"Fine! Then I guess I'll just have to go with Sadako-chan," the blond suddenly latched onto my arm causing me to stumble. My hand instantly grabbed the handrail to prevent myself from falling headfirst down the stairs. I felt a brief flicker of annoyance when I looked at his smiling face, unaware that he almost accidentally pushed me down the stairs, but then I sighed. It was an accident. He didn't do it on purpose. "You'll go to the movie with me, yeah?"

"Uh...sure," I said. It could be fun. It's been a couple years since I've been to a movie theater. I think the last time was when Laurel and I went to see _Deathly Hallows Part 2_ of the Harry Potter franchise. That was like three or four years ago. I usually just wait for the movie to come out on DVD and buy it.

Nagisa beamed, then stuck his tongue out at Ryugazaki. "Childish, Nagisa-kun." Even though those words were a bit cold, I could tell Ryugazaki didn't put any real malice in them. The taller boy was smiling warmly, as if he had already grown used to Nagisa's behavior and openly accepted it. He moved passed us and up the stairs with a subtle shake of his head at his friend's antics. "Come on. Everyone's probably waiting for us."

The blond shot me a cheeky grin before he released my arm. "Let's go, Sadako-chan." Apparently, I was now involved with these two whether I liked it or not. Thankfully, they're both really nice.

* * *

I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten a meal with such a large group of people. Maybe I never have. Meals for me were usually quite affairs, even on the rare instances when my dad was home, neither of us really talked much at least not verbally. But more often than not, I found myself eating alone with no one to talk to but myself. Which is why I had gotten into the habit of taking a book with me everywhere I went. You don't look so lonely if you're reading.

Today was different, though, because it was the first day that I was surrounded by a group of people. Across from me sat Kou and Chisuga and on either side of them was Ryugazaki and Makoto. I found myself seated between Nagisa and the swim club's vice-captain, who everyone kept referring to as Haru-chan despite the fact that he obviously didn't favor the honorifics. Now Haru-chan, or Haru as I decided to call him, was some who was taciturn. The almost expressionless face he wore never wavered and when he did speak, which was few and far between, that same emotionless tone coated every syllable. It was a stark contrast to my blond classmate sitting on the other side of me.

They were all talking about something swimming related that went over my head. But that was fine. I was more content to sit and listen than feeling the need to speak myself. My mother always did say my natural state was silence.

"Is that alright with you, Akamatsu-san?"

Huh? All conversation had suddenly stopped at Makoto's question. Funny thing was I didn't even realize they were discussing me until now. I tried racking my brain for an answer, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what they had been talking about. "Umm…sorry, I zoned out for a second," I said.

Makoto, I internally thanked him for this, simply nodded pleasantly before repeating himself. "The swim club is meeting at SC Returns, a gym owned by our old swim coach, after school. I was wondering if you felt comfortable starting out learning the basic strokes or using a kickboard and learning the flutter and frog kicks?"

"Oh." I didn't know what a flutter or frog kick was, although I guess that didn't really matter. But it wasn't really much of a decision because I couldn't do any swimming today anyways.

You see, I didn't have a swim suit. This morning, in my rush to get ready, I had torn my closet apart looking for my navy one-piece before I remembered that I had accidently left it back home in Hawaii when I visited over New Years. I had decided at the time not to bother my mom with shipping it to me, claiming that it was time for a new one anyways. Nevertheless, I had still not bothered replacing it as I didn't go swimming that much since I moved to Japan. Not at all like Hawaii, where if I didn't go to the beach at least every two days I would find myself overcome with something that the locals referred to as 'sun guilt'.

"Well, I thought I'd just watch today. I don't actually have a swimsuit right now. And I was going to get one this weekend," I explained. Again I found myself internally berating myself for not having bought one months ago.

"I see." He said looking thoughtful. "If that's the case, you're perfectly welcome to sit and watch. But a suit is something you need to take care of quickly. You know Sports Zero sells an assortment of swim suits all year-round."

"Oh?" I uttered that syllable on reflex. I didn't know what Sports Zero was, although by the name I guessed it was a sporting goods store. Something that I, up until now, never needed to step foot in. "That's good to know," I remarked before asking, "Where is one?"

"Uh, there's one located at the mall," Kou chimed in helpfully. She didn't need to specify which mall because there was only one mall in Iwatobi. I couldn't tell you what the exact name of the place was –I think it was like _Dai Moru_ , or something –but people only ever referred to it as 'The Mall' so I don't think anyone even bothered to remember its name.

"That's right," Makoto nodded, "We went there last April to get swimsuits."

"You know, I actually need to head over there this weekend," Kou added as an afterthought. "I'd be happy to show you where the store is, if you'd like?"

"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you," I said.

"It's no trouble. I'm heading there anyways," she waved off my concern, "Really I insist. Besides a girl needs a second opinion on these things."

Well if she insisted, who am I to turn it down? It still amazed me that she genuinely wanted to spend time with me. "Okay. Thank you, Kou-chan," I smiled gratefully.

Now, let me take a second and explain what happened immediately after that because I think it needs to be looked into. You see, I didn't think I did anything particularly odd. Smiling was actually something I did quite often, once I got comfortable around someone. But I guess seeing it for the first time came as shock because that's exactly what happened.

Kou froze, eyes wide, in surprise as did everyone else. Or at least it seemed like it, because things suddenly got very quiet. It was so quiet, in fact, that I could hear the sound of a seagull off in the distance. (I guess instead of crickets, Iwatobi has seagulls.) Anyways, this silence carried on for no more than a couple seconds, yet the pause was long enough and sudden enough to be noticeable. I started to feel uncomfortable with all of them staring at me and attempted to shift my attention to something else.

' _The sky looks really blue today…'_

"So cute," I heard someone whisper before Kou launched herself across the circle and into my lap. The maroon-haired girl wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.

"You called me Kou!" She cheered, squeezing me tighter.

For such a delicate looking person, she sure was strong. It felt like she was wringing all the air out of my lungs. I wonder if this what a rat felt like as it was strangled to death by a python? That analogy creeped me out more than it should have as the idea of Kou being a one of those scaly reptiles, wrapping her coils around me, and piercing me with those sharp, poisonous fangs had me wanting to flee. "I can't breathe," I winced; flailing my arms.

Hearing my plea, Kou released her hold on me and grinned. "Ah, sorry."

"It's okay," I said as she returned to her seat and shifted my attention to Makoto. "So is there any particular brand I should look for or…?" I asked him.

"–Just get the one that fits best," Haru suddenly chimed in from beside me. It was the first time he actually addressed me, so I was a little caught off guard. But I think what really distracted me was the piercing blue eyes staring down at me. They were such a pretty color, like the color blue that was only found in the depths of the ocean, and I found myself staring for a second too long.

Thankfully, the only one who seemed to notice this was Haru himself and he certainly didn't comment on it. "Well, I find color is an important factor to consider when buying a swimsuit," Ryugazaki added trying to be helpful. "For example, brighter colors, like yellow, tend to be considered happy and have a positive effect on your psyche which could help during a race."

"I think a yellow swimsuit would look cute on Sadako-chan," Nagisa remarked. The blond gave me a playful smile, then took a giant bite out of his Iwatobi Surprise Bread causing some of the fruit filling to ooze out of the bottom. I watched the blob get closer and steadily closer to falling on his uniform slacks.

"Umm...Nagisa-kun, you're dripping." His eyes followed my line of sight to the glob of – _what was that? Strawberry?_ –red jam congealing at the end of his bread. He reacted quickly, turning the bread around and licking of the glob before it started to drip from the other side; which he then took another huge bite and the problem started all over again.

Nagisa continued to repeat this process, until he finished his bread. "I have an idea! Why don't we all go? I'd like to see the new styles out and Rei-chan, weren't you just talking about wanting to get a new pair of goggles?" The blond suggested. "And that way we could show Sadako-chan exactly which ones are the good brands and which ones aren't."

"I don't have anything planned tomorrow," Ryugazaki said. Tomorrow, being Saturday as today was Friday. And I knew, because he had previously mentioned it, that the blue-haired boy studied on Sundays so Saturday was the only day he was free. "I wouldn't mind going, if its tomorrow. As long as that's alright with you, Akamatsu-chan."

It didn't bother me one bit if they wanted to tag-along. But I was more concerned if Kou minded. Maybe she just wanted it to be a girls' day or something, I wasn't sure. "No, it's fine. That is unless Kou-chan…?"

"–I don't mind either," the club manager said.

"I'd like to go too," Chisuga remarked, "I need to look for a new bikini for this summer."

Makoto looked over to Haru, silently asking him if he wanted to come also. The raven-haired senior merely shrugged and took another bite of his mackerel and rice as if to say ' _I'll do whatever. Doesn't bother me…'_ and Makoto smiled. "We're in too," he gestured to himself and Haru. "As club captain, it's my job to make sure that new members are looked after."

Nagisa cheered, "Alright so it's settled! Tomorrow we'll all go to the mall!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Well this chapter is a long time coming. I'm sure some of you might've thought that I discontinued this fic. I haven't. I just got stuck in my writer's block and for the life of me I couldn't get a certain scene to work, so I decided to cut it out and try to put it in somewhere else. With that said, hopefully, this chapter makes up for such a long absence.


	4. Super Best Friends

**The Ghost of Iwatobi High  
Chapter 4  
**" **Super Best Friends"**

* * *

School seemed to pass by much faster than it normally did. I don't know if that had something to do with the movie we watched for Japanese History class because the teacher, Mr. Tsuda, called in sick. Or maybe the day seemed shorter because Nagisa had taken to passing me notes during the movie via Ryugazaki. (Which the taller boy had quickly grown frustrated with and ended up swapping seats with the blond just so he would stop being the go-between.) Whatever the reason, school was over before I knew it and I found myself, for the second time that day, getting dragged behind Nagisa as the three of us hurried to the footlockers in order to meet up with the rest of the swim club.

"So Haru-chan walks in, ya know, all starry-eyed and you can just tell he was about to do something. Then next thing we knew, he started shrugging off his jacket and kicking off his shoes and was in his swimsuit in two seconds flat. Mako-chan barely managed to grab him before he tired jumping into the tank!"

"He wears a swimsuit under his pants?" I wondered curiously.

Nagisa nodded. "Yeah."

"And he was going to get into a tank with lobsters?" I repeated.

"Yep."

I didn't know what to make of that story. Trying to picture the stoic boy from lunch doing something so ridiculous was just… _How does that even happen?_

"But Haru-chan's always been like that," Nagisa explained, "I think that if it were up to him, he'd never get out of the water."

"He must really like swimming," I said as we arrived at the lockers.

The blond nodded. "We all do, but no one as much as Haru-chan."

I guess when you stop to think about it are his actions really so unusual? Sure on the surface, maybe Haru was an eccentric; but if you were to look past that, you'd see that perhaps, it wasn't so much of an odd behavior as it was the fundamental wiring of his personality. One of my favorite quotes from the beloved classic, _The Addams Family_ put it best: "What is normal for the spider, is chaos for the fly." To the third-party observer, Haru's thought process may have seemed chaotic; but to Haru, I'm sure, everything he did, he did with a clear and well-thought-out process.

Besides on some level I understood it, I think. At least, I mean, I had some idea what would entice him to have such strong feelings towards the water. (Although, I personally would never try to strip off all my clothes and submerge myself in the supermarket's lobster tank.) I understood how passions worked. When someone is passionate about something, all logical reasoning goes right out the window, you become entranced –almost obsessive –to the point that you cared little for anything else. My Dad, for example, was passionate about music; to the point that he would scarcely remember to eat, let alone sleep, if he was busy composing. I've heard that Albert Einstein, himself, suffered from this affliction as well. Which is why I supposed, that many famous composers such as Chopin, Mozart, and Bach died young because they had more important things to do than to worry about trivial things such as keeping a healthy lifestyle.

And I'm guilty of this too.

I confess reluctantly that I had developed a habit of staying up until three or four or even five o'clock in the morning when my hands took over and my drawings took on a life of their own. It was almost like being possessed like I needed to draw more than I needed to anything else, and when that urge took over I could do nothing to fight it. And for Haru swimming probably did the same thing.

Since the lockers were arranged alphabetically by last name and our last names weren't anywhere close to one another, the three of us split up to go to our respective lockers; regrouping by the Ks.

"Haru-sempai's swimming is really beautiful, though," Ryugazaki told me. "He practically glides through the water."

"Like a dolphin?" I mused.

"Precisely."

I could see it. Not like Haru's appearance resembled a dolphin or anything, but he seemed to possess this natural gracefulness in everything he did. I noticed it today when we were having lunch. The way someone eats is very telling about their personality. And Haru ate very prettily.

That sounds weird, I'll try to explain it better.

You see, when I say pretty I don't mean like he was physically attractive when he ate. (Though I will admit that compared to some people, he was on the attractive side of the spectrum.) What I mean is that Haru ate like how I imagined someone like the Queen of England would eat –someone who was raised to retain a high level of class and dignity from birth. (Which may actually elude something to Haru's parents, however, I'm merely speculating.) He was—I don't want to go so far as to call him regal, but that's the only word I can think of to describe it. His hands were perfectly steady as he held his chopsticks, I had noticed fairly impressed, and he ate at a moderate pace, chewing each bite thoroughly. He also had excellent posture which that alone was rare among people my age.

"Gou-chan! Haru-chan!" Nagisa suddenly called out, catching sight of the swim club manager and the vice-captain exiting the same row of lockers.

They both stopped and turned to the blond. "Stop with the chan already—"

"I told you not to call me Gou," Kou said. I thought it was funny how they had basically said the same thing at the same time. A short laugh slipped past my lips which Haru heard. Blue eyes met mine in a second. I looked away first and blushed.

 _...Now, he probably thinks I was laughing at him._

"Where's Makoto-sempai?" Ryugazaki asked. The question was directed toward Haru as he would be the only one to know.

"I'm right here!" Just then, the boy in question made his appearance. Appearing around the corner, he had a stack of books balanced precariously in his arms while he tried to shove some of them in his backpack. Haru and I both stepped forward and took the books from his hands before they could topple over. "Thanks," he smiled at us and finished shoving two more books into his bag. He couldn't fit anymore after that.

I turned my head, seeing my homeroom teacher, Ms. Amakata, approaching. Ms. Amakata was the kind of teacher that was both respected and beloved by her students. She was the fun teacher. The kind of teacher that would try to get you out of trouble. (Granted, she might not always succeed.) And yes, she could be a little odd sometimes with her obscure literary references. When I first met her, I was struck with the resemblance she had to a swimsuit model I had once seen in a magazine that my Dad had lying around the house. A model that I remembered because I had used it as a photo-reference on more than one occasion over the years. She had the same soft brown eyes and milk-chocolate hair, although hers was considerably shorter. But the model in the magazine was much younger than the twenty-something teacher and even if by chance they were the same person, I hardly saw why I would ever need to ask her about it.

That being said, Amakata Miho was probably my favorite teacher thus far. But that probably had more to do with the fact that she wasn't afraid of me and couldn't care less about the ghost rumors. I believe her exact words were: " _To speak as little as possible of one's self. To mind one's own business. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation… These are the few ways we can practice humility."_

Her immediate joy when I recognized the quote from Mother Teresa still lingers in my memory.

"Tachibana-kun, thank you for helping me with these books," Ms. Amakata said as she stopped beside the boy. Like Makoto, Ms. Amakata was also carrying her own small stack of books, along with her purse.

"It's no trouble. I'm happy to help, ma'am." Makoto paused and glanced briefly at me. "Oh, this is the new member I was telling you about—"

"Akamatsu-chan!" The woman smiled catching sight of me. "This is great! You're finally joining a club."

I knew that Ms. Amakata would be happy about this. Over the moon, actually, because she had been urging me to join a club since my first-year. Although, it wasn't like I hadn't tried before now, I mean, if only for the sake of socializing. But this funny thing would happen that every time I'd show up to a club room, every member would be mysteriously absent. Perhaps it was just coincidence or maybe (And this was far more likely.) they somehow found out I was coming and decided to make themselves scarce for fear of being cursed. Whatever the reason, I eventually said to hell with it and stopped trying. I didn't really even want to join a club, to begin with. I wasn't a club person. Even in Hawaii, the only after-school activity I took part in was choir –I'd much rather not spend more time at school than I needed to. But this didn't stop Ms. Amakata from suggesting it every now and then.

"Yeah," I said, awkwardly shifting the books in my arms.

Doing so, however, made it come off as if I thought the books were heavy. (Which they kind of were.) And Makoto was kind enough to relieve me of them. "I got those."

"Oh…thank you."

Together the group of us walked out to the lot where the school faculty parked their cars and deposited the extra books in Ms. Amakata's car. Then we proceeded to walk the four blocks it would take to get to the gym. I walked beside Nagisa taking note of the various shops with their Meiji Restoration architecture.

"You'll like coach Sasabe," Nagisa told me. "He's a little rough around the edges, but he's a good guy. He helped us out a lot last year with the club. As kids, we called him demon coach because was so strict on swimming."

"How strict was he?" I asked.

"Pretty strict. If you were late to practice, he would make you swim ten, sometimes fifteen laps without stopping."

"Oh...that's sounds a bit like a drill sergeant," I said. It made me a bit nervous to think about. I didn't do particularly well with domineering people.

Nagisa nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but he didn't make us do any pushups." The blond seemed to have noticed my change in demeanor as he quickly began to reassure me. "But it's nothing to worry about. When you really get down to it Coach-Sasabe is a huge teddy bear," he said.

As it turned out, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Coach Sasabe, while imposing in stature and a rough-looking appearance, was exactly like Nagisa had described. He had stopped me by the poolside when the group of us had arrived and at first he hadn't said anything but stared intensely into my eyes. There was a sort of coarseness to the way he carried himself that made him rather intimidating and at first, I was confused, even a little unsettled, by the intensity in his dark brown eyes.

"Are we having a staring contest?" I asked him, then added, "Because I think in order for it to be official, we have to be seated."

Sasabe arched his thick dark brows before his lips twitched upwards into a grin. "I heard if people look into your eyes they get cursed. I wanted to see if that's true," he explained.

"It's not," I said.

"I guess not. It's too bad though, it would've been useful in competition," he said. "Just think you could be completely unstoppable to the point that no one would dare look in your direction, much less compete."

I laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea. "Well, I'm not a Carrie or anything. Things like that only happen in the movies."

"No psychic powers?"

"I wish. Would've made finals a lot easier," I said.

Sasabe looked taken aback for a moment; unsure whether or not I was joking, then letting out a hearty laugh after he decided that I was. "Welcome to Iwatobi SC Returns," then he leaned down an whispered somewhat conspicuously, "Don't let these weirdos scare you away."

Nagisa had paused, overhearing that statement, and cried out, "We're not that weird!" But just then Haru was striping out of his school uniform leaving himself in a pair of black swim trunks with purple detailing.

"Hey, Nanase! Use the locker rooms!" Sasabe turned his attention away from me, but his words fell on deaf ears as Haru jumped into the pool, water splashing up over the side.

I watched as his body slipped effortlessly through the water. Each muscle expanding and contracting as the water rippled around him, catching the light in just such a way that had my hands twitching toward my book bag and the sketchbook I kept inside. He was already halfway down the length of the pool. "Wow, he's fast."

Sasabe glanced at me and let out a rather long sigh. "Oh yeah. That's Haru for ya. That kid's got a lot of natural talent if he just applied himself more."

That was an interesting statement. I tilted my head slightly to look up at him, then glanced down the length of the pool. He looked so at ease in the water, moving gracefully through it, as if he were, in fact, part fish. "I think he applies himself enough. I mean talent is just another word for hard work. You don't get that good if you don't apply yourself," I said.

Sasabe raised his brows, then gave me an appraising look. "That's pretty insightful," he said.

Is it? It just seemed like common sense to me.

"Akamatsu-san." Ms. Amakata came up to me and handed me a paper she had taken out of her bag. "Here," she said, "this is the club form that needs to be filled out in order for you to become an official member."

"Oh, thank you." I took it from her, scanning over the page and the information it was asking for. Sasabe had begun chatting up Ms. Amakata and I decided to walk down the length of the poolside where Kou was at. I came up to her and sat down on the dry towel she had laid there.

She looked up from the book in her lap and smiled at me. "So what do you think?" She asked.

I cast a quick around the room seeing Makoto-sempai, Ryugazaki, and Nagisa return from the locker rooms after changing into their swimsuits. I didn't quite understand what she was asking, so when I turned to her and said, "I think it's nice. Sasabe-san must've put in a lot of work into the remodeling." Kou looked at me with a deadpanned expression.

"No," she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and scooted closer to me. She spoke quietly, mindful of how sound bounced off the concrete and tiles echoing back to the others. "I mean the guys. What do you think of the guys? Who's your favorite." She asked.

Oh? I turned and cast a quick glance back down the length of the pool. Makoto had gotten Haru out of the pool and they were now having some sort of meeting at the other end by the starting blocks. "I don't think I've known them long enough to pick a favorite," I said. "I mean I'm in class with Nagisa-kun and Ryugazaki-kun so I've spent more time with them. But Nanase-sempai and Tachibana-sempai both seem like really good guys. Although Nanase-sempai is a bit quiet."

If anything the blank look on Kou's face worsened. She blinked at me slowly, her thin brows furrowing together. "No," she said again. "That's not...I was asking you about their muscles."

"What about them?"

"Who is your favorite?"

"I think they're all nice," I told her. "I'm not an expert or anything, but they all look relatively proportional to their body types."

"But you don't have a favorite," she said.

I shook my head. "As long as their comfortable as they are and they're healthy, who am I to judge? Confidence is more attractive than muscles any day."

"Then you don't have an ideal body type?"

I shook my head. "Who's your favorite?"

A look of deep reflection passed over her face as she considered my question. This was clearly a subject she took rather seriously and thought a lot about. She launched into this long monologue about it being a tough choice between Makoto and Haru using vast amounts of muscle terminology. Half of which I understood because of my experience drawing still life and half of which went over my head because I clearly hadn't studied muscular anatomy as extensively as Kou had. "In the end," she finished, "I had to allot all my points to my older brother."

"Oh, you have a brother?" I asked her. "Is he on the swim team too?"

"He is. But he doesn't go to Iwatobi. He's on Sumezuka's swim team. You know that all boys boarding school?" I had heard of it, I think. Bordering on the next town over, it was a bit of a ways away from Iwatobi high school and well-known for its athletic department. "Anyways, we sometimes go there and have joint practices since they have an indoor pool. That and it's fun to get together from time to time."

"I see."

I wondered briefly what it was like to have an older brother. I was an only child, my conception being a monumental a surprise for my parents when they were in their senior year in high school. Obviously, they didn't end up getting married or anything like that. Their relationship was temporary—a high school fling—but sometimes I wished, the way that all children wish, that they had managed to work it out; that maybe we could've been a real family. Real in the sense that we were together and not separated by oceans, countries, or languages. Having a sibling would've made those things not so difficult, or at least not so lonely.

"Hey," Kou leaned towards me, her expression turning concerned. "Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" I didn't realize that during my reflections, my expression had become somewhat melancholic. "No," I shook my head. "I was just daydreaming."

 **...**

The next two hours of swim practice passed relatively quickly. Kou and I spent the majority of the time talking about various things and comparing homework answers. She was a very easy person to get along with and talk too. She was well-versed in topics concerning swimming, muscles, and calligraphy which we talked about for some time out of my curiosity and her expertise of the medium. Then I happened to mention my love of watercolor painting to which she was really interested. "I think I have a few in my sketchbook," I told her when she asked to see some of them.

"Really? Can I see them?"

"...Sure," I turned to dig through my bag and extracting a black spiral sketchbook. I thumbed through the pages, seeing flashes of ink, pencils, and charcoal before stopping at a page filled with vibrant blues and yellows. Flipping the other pages to the back, I turned it to Kou and showed her the picture of two Yellow tangs with a deep blue background. "This is one I did a couple weeks ago."

"Wow! That's amazing—"

"What's amazing?" Nagisa popped up behind me suddenly, surprising both of us, and causing a startled gasp to escape my lips. _Geez, a little warning would've nice._ I turned to him, my gaze settling on his face and the wet blond curls sticking to his forehead and dripping water down the bridge of his nose. He was standing half crouched over us with a terrycloth blue and white striped towel draped over his shoulders. His soft coral-colored eyes meet mine with interest and curiosity.

"Sadako-chan was showing me her watercolor painting," Kou said pulling his eyes from me to sketchbook in her hands.

An excited look passed over his face and he crouched down even more. "Really? Can I see? Sadako-chan?"

"Sure," I took the sketchbook back from Kou and flipped it around so he could see.

"Whoa! That's so cool!" He exclaimed loudly. "You painted that?"

"—uh, yeah…"

I was beginning to feel embarrassed by the attention and praise. A red-hot flush engulfed me, starting as a spark and quickly growing to a raging inferno that bloomed across my usually colorless face making me feel a strange mix of excited and anxious. I never knew how to respond to compliments and part of me always felt unsettled by them; like I needed to repay them somehow.

"It's so detailed. You can even see some of the individual scales," he observed.

"How long did it take you?" Kou asked.

"A couple hours," I said.

"You have a real talent," Nagisa said. "I'm jealous."

"Thank you," I smiled at them both before turning my attention back to Nagisa. "Is practice over?"

"Pretty much," he said. "We just have to pack up and hit the showers."

"Do you want any help?" I offered.

Nagisa raised his brows as his lips twitched upwards into an impish grin. "Whoa! I didn't think you'd be so bold!"

His voice had a teasing tilt to it. Almost like he was making fun of me for something. Had I said something wrong? Japanese wasn't my first language and as such, it wasn't uncommon for me to slip up and make a mistake every so often. But I had thought that I had gotten a lot better at recognizing my mistakes as soon as I made them. I thought back over the last few seconds of the conversation, especially focusing on my response—

 _Oh. My. God._

My eyes widened as I realized the double entendre. Had I just offered to help Nagisa shower? I had hadn't I—at least it could be misconstrued that way. _Oh god, that's embarrassing._

My face felt unbearably hot as I shook my head. "No—that's not what I—You're misunderstanding...T-The packing! I meant the packing," I said.

"Nice save," Kou was grinning just as widely as my blond classmate giving me a thumbs up.

Nagisa laughed shaking his head causing water droplets to land on me. "I'm teasing. I'm teasing," he grinned. "Your face is so red!"

 _That's cause I'm embarrassed y-you jerk._

"It's cute," he said.

I peered up at him, frowning. "I hope you get soap in your eyes."

"Aww, Sadako-chan that's mean!"

 **...**

After about ten minutes, I had managed to get my blush back down from tomato-red to a pale, rosy pink. Admittedly, I was still fairly embarrassed by what happened, but by now my head had cooled enough that I was able to see the good-natured taunting for what it was. Nagisa, the goof, had seriously thought I was angry with him and had immediately launched into a slew of long-winded apologies, throwing his arms around me, and refusing to let me go until I forgave him.

"Nagisa-kun you're getting me wet," I complained. If my arms hadn't been pinned down to my sides and if my face hadn't been smashed up against his warm, lean torso, I would've been able to recognize the second indueno before it came out of my mouth. But I was finding it increasingly difficult to think past anything but Nagisa. The warmth of his skin, the surprising strength he had in his lean frame, the smell of chlorine clinging to his hair as the icy-cool water droplets soaked into my school uniform—all of it was distracting as hell.

"That's what she said."

 _Ugh._ I walked right into that one, didn't I? I squirmed, trying to loosen his hold. "Let go. I'm cold."

"Not until you accept my apology," he said.

"I accept your apology," I said blandly.

"And a smile," he added and I looked up at him nonplussed. "So I know you mean it."

There was this playful glimmer in his eyes despite his expression being wholly serious. Like he was laughing at me without actually laughing at me. I was half-tempted to stomp down on his barefoot, but saner heads prevailed and I was too worn out to put up any more of a fight. Reluctantly, my lips twitched upwards as I tried and inevitably failed to plaster on a fake smile. I couldn't see my expression, but judging how quickly Nagisa's changed from teasing to alarmed I guessed that my smile looked anything but friendly.

"T-That's close enough," his laugh seemed rathered forced as he let me go. He made a somewhat hasty retreat after that leaving me feeling that I had somehow made things awkward between us.

Kou and I busied ourselves with packing up our scattered textbooks, all the while I was busy replaying the scene over and over again like a broken record. Had I overreacted? Nagisa had only been goofing off like he had been all day. It didn't mean anything more than playful teasing. So why couldn't I had just let it roll off my shoulder? Why did I have to take it so seriously?

It was because I was the butt of the joke. But so what? Someone is always the butt of a joke. That's why it's a joke. But it brought up old memories, sliced open scarred over wounds, where I had been the butt of many jokes and none of them were funny. I'm no stranger to bullying or those schoolyard taunts that would be shouted at me or spoken behind my back. Back then they used to make me want to disappear, to hide, to cut myself off from people; but then Laurel moved in next door and she became a mentor, a protector, my friend. She taught me that I shouldn't care about what people say about me, that the only opinion that matters about myself is my own, and as long as I'm satisfied with who I am everyone else is background noise. But having learned that lesson, I found myself forgetting it today and that feeling of wanting to be invisible resurfaced.

I should apologize. That would be best for everyone involved. I glanced over at Kou; even she was being uncommonly quiet. A feeling of dread began to pool in my stomach making me feel a bit nauseous. Maybe I really did shoot myself in the foot here. I'm such an idiot. "I'm sorry," I clenched fingers tightly around my sketchbook as the other girl stopped to look at me.

"What for?" Kou furrowed her brows together.

"I made things uncomfortable earlier," I said. "I took the joke too seriously and made things awkward."

The redhead looked even more puzzled. "No you didn't," she contradicted me, her mouth pulling down into a frown. "It was Nagisa who took things too far like he always does. I mean look at you." She waved her hand towards the front of my uniform and the large, wet splotches soaked into the fabric. "You're completely soaked through. If anything Nagisa needs to apologize."

"But I—"

"No. You did nothing wrong," she said.

That's not true. But Kou couldn't see inside my mind. She couldn't know how I flubbed up and let some of my emotions get the better of me. It was unfair to put all the blame on one single person and I knew that I wasn't totally blameless in this situation either. "Nagisa-kun was only messing around," I said. "He didn't do anything wrong either."

Kou arched one of her thin auburn brows, her eyes settling again on my uniform incredulously. She looked as if she wanted to disagree. But then she must've decided better of it; fixing me with a resolute stare. "Then neither you nor he needs to apologize," she told me. "It's in the past now, so the best thing to do would be to let it go. I'm sure he's already forgotten about it already too."

"You think so?"

"Nagisa-kun doesn't hold onto grudges," she said with an air of finality. Her tone of voice made it abundantly clear that this topic was over and Kou would not be discussing it anymore or accepting any more of my weak apologies. She had absolved me of any blame and that was that.

A part of me felt relieved. But another part, a more negative, self-deprecating part still felt the need to hold onto that guilt, letting it sink into the pit of my stomach. I should still apologize to Nagisa. Even it's unnecessary because it would be the right thing to do. I don't want to accidentally alienate one of my fellow club members and classmates. It would be best to clear up any misunderstandings before they can start.

I picked up the few remaining items that were mine and slipped them into my bookbag. The club form that Ms. Amakata had given me had been filled out and was lying face down on the towel near Kou. The redhead paused in the process of straightening up some spare papers from the boys' training regimens, mistaking my club form for one of hers, and adding it to her pile. I was too preoccupied with trying to get my copy of _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_ out from under my chemistry textbook to notice this, so when I looked up the form was gone.

"Hey," I started digging through my bookbag again, "have you seen my club form?"

Kou frowned, working on getting the stack of papers in her hands into some semblance of order. "No," she said. "Did you lose it?"

"I thought I laid it down right here." I pointed to an area on the towel.

"Maybe I picked it up," she said, then stopped her paper shuffling in order to flip one of the loose pages over. "Oh, wait—Is this it?" She held up the page for me to see.

"Yep," I took it from her with a smile; my eyes scanning over it again. There was an area on the form that asked for my preferred stroke that I had left blank because I wasn't quite sure how to answer. The only swimming stroke I knew about was breaststroke and that was only because the only professional swimmer I knew about was Michael Phelps and that was his preferred stroke. But I didn't know what a breaststroke was or what it's supposed to look like. (I suppose if I had been paying more attention to the boys during practice, especially to Nagisa, I would've learned very quickly what it was as I later learned that that was Nagisa preferred stroke too.) But for now, I figured it wouldn't hurt to leave that part blank.

While Kou folded up the towel, I started over to Ms. Amakata to hand her my form. However on the way there, I was stopped, or more distracted, by a poster Coach Sasabe was hanging up in the window of the observation area.

"This poster is for…"

I jumped, startled by the sudden voice over my shoulder. I hadn't realized Ryugazaki was there and had been reading the poster over my shoulder.

"What is it?" I wondered looking at it as well.

Sasabe overheard us and spun around proudly, brandishing another smaller poster in our faces. "Oh! This is the poster for the grand opening," he said gaining the attention of the other boys just returning in their uniforms.

" _Sprashu Fes_?" Makoto raised his brow incredulously.

"It's spelled wrong," Ryugazaki said. It was in fact spelled horribly in an eclectic mix of English letters and Japanese kanji. Yet somehow I think it added to its charm. According to the posters, the swim club wasn't officially opening until a week from tomorrow; tomorrow being Saturday, and boasted various activities from a variety of swimming races with prizes to face-painting and raffles. Nagisa and Ryugazaki both seemed particularly interested in the _Suijutsu_ race. _Suijutsu,_ from what Nagisa explained, was the style of swimming used by Japanese _samurai_ during the feudal era. And Nagisa was very interested in Japanese history it seemed.

Coach Sasabe asked the lot of us to help with the advertising of this big event by hanging up posters around town on our way home. Makoto suggested that it would be faster if we all split up into groups of two. Coincidentally, I was paired up with Nagisa again.

This would've been the perfect opportunity for me to clear the air between us. Since what happened before, things had been rather tense. I couldn't tell if it was caused by a sense of embarrassment or remorse or something else entirely, but Nagisa had been uncommonly quiet while we busied ourselves with hanging up the posters on various telephone poles and advertisement spots. I feared that I had done more harm than I originally suspected because he scarcely looked in my direction, except to ask for another piece of tape.

My thoughts were too preoccupied with how to break this uncomfortable atmosphere between us and what exactly I should say when I did, that I didn't notice the dwindling pile of posters until they were completely gone. Makoto had told us all to meet up at the pier when he had finished in order to make plans for tomorrow and to help brainstorm some ideas for the main event of Swim Club's grand-opening. Nagisa had just started to head in that way, when I had finally worked up my courage to confront the elephant in the room, placing my hand on his arm to gain his attention.

"N-Nagisa-kun," I began stumbling over my words briefly, "I want to apologize for how I acted earlier. I wasn't angry with you and I'm deeply sorry if I did or said anything to upset you. It wasn't my intention."

The blond boy blinked down at me slowly. But I didn't look away from those soft pink irises of his, even though I desperately wanted to. The beat of silence had lasted only for a moment, but it somehow felt like centuries when Nagisa parted his lips and spoke. "I'm not upset," he said. "If anything I should be apologizing to you, Sadako-chan. I—uh—made you uncomfortable and—" He trailed off and sheepishly looked down at his shoes, scuffing the toe of one against the cement.

"It's okay," I said. "I know you were only kidding. There's no need for you to apologize, Nagisa-kun. Can we just put this whole thing behind us from now on?" I smiled in a way that I hoped was encouraging, if not a tad awkward, and grasped his larger hand in mine squeezing it reassuringly. "I like you Nagisa-kun and I think you're a very kind and warm person. I-I like hanging out with you, so I want to be your friend."

I felt my face feeling warm in spite of the nippy April air as I lost some confidence in myself. What was I saying? _Gosh, this is embarrassing._ But Nagisa, having recovered his own confidence, beamed down at him with that sunny smile that made me feel all jittery and happy at the same time. His cheeks had a nice rosy complexion from the cold and I thought for a moment that he looked rather relieved before he swooped down and gave me a one-armed hug. "Sadako-chan," he laughed, "of course I'll be your friend. Best friends, no—Super best friends!"

* * *

 **A/N:** So here's chapter 4! This one is a doozy, being twice as long as the other chapters. I feel like it may have gotten a bit rambly in some spots, but that's okay because Sawako has a tendency to ramble, if not always out loud, at least in her head. I guess you could say that this is more like a Nagisa chapter. These first couple chapters it feels like I've been focusing more on Nagisa than the others, but the next chapter should start including some interactions with the other guys.

As always, thanks for all the favorites and follows. And as I said before this story doesn't have a real pairing yet as right now I'm just simply building friendships, so I'm totally open with including any pairings you guys might think would be good. Just leave your favorite pairing in the reviews or you can head over to my profile page and vote on the poll there.


End file.
